The invention refers to a new plant variety of apple tree (Malus domestica) named ‘WA 38’. This new variety is distinguished by its intense and nearly full color, internal indices that are different than its parents, and its long common storage life.
‘WA 38’ originated as a single seedling from a cross of the patented varieties ‘Enterprise’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,193) and ‘Honeycrisp’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,197) in Year 1. The germinated seedling was grown in a greenhouse at Wenatchee, Wash. In September of Year 2, ‘WA 38’ was chip budded onto ‘M9’ rootstock and the resulting tree was planted in the evaluation orchard at Douglas County, Wash. in the spring of Year 5. Fruit from this originally budded tree were observed in Year 7 and Year 8 and due to the unique fruit quality traits, ‘WA 38’ was selected and second generation trees were made by chip budding onto M9 rootstock in the fall of Year 8. Second generation trees were planted at three locations in Washington State near Chelan, Douglas County, Wash.; near East Wenatchee, Douglas County, Wash.; and near Basin City, Franklin County, Wash. A comparison of second generation trees against the originally budded tree, including trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit; showed them to be essentially the same and stable over the years checked (Years 12, 13, 14, and 15).